Shower Enclosure gone rotten

[Rob Farley]

Hi, apologies if this is the wrong section.

I'm in a bit of a pickle, our shower has started leaking, a lot, and it looks like there had been a small leak for a while that soaked through the grout (or round it) and destroyed the plasterboard behind it, this in turn allowed movement which made cracks in the grout and even more moisture going into the plasterboard, more movement etc etc... I only actually realised when I noticed water leaking from the ceiling below so it had got quite bad at that point.

I pulled the plastic surround away from the shower tray and poked a finger into the plasterboard whereby handfuls of wet plasterboard were just falling away... Yay!

So... What do I do now?!

I know I need to remove the enclosure, pull off some (all) of the tiles from the rotten plasterboard and replace said plasterboard with new.

However, I've read that you shouldn't be using plasterboard and that it should be ply behind shower enclosures? If this is the case do I need to strip the tiles all the way up replace the entire plasterboard wall behind the shower enclosure with ply?

Or what?!

Really just looking for advice on what the heck to do!

Cheers, Rob

 

[oldbutnotdead]

The only way to fix it properly is strip out the rotten failed stuff and see whats left.
There are all sorts of options for the wall- tile backer board (cement based so doesn't fall to bits if it gets wet), insulation panels (Marmox or similar), you can get waterproof boards that fit straight to the walls (no tiling required- about £60 for 8' x 2' sheet but the whole job is done in 2 hours).
Look at this as an opportunity to improve/upgrade rather than throwing time and money into repairing an old tired setup

 

[SFK]

As a DIYer what I would do:

- take off all the tiles
- see how bad the plasterboard is, see where the joists are.
- remove all the plasterboards arround shower (or a least the bottom ones if on budget)
- fit aqua panels (concreate boards - they are not waterproof but do not rot when wet) : https://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Building-Materials/Plaster+Plasterboard/Plasterboard/c/1000220?q=:relevance:Type:Aquapanels&text=&Aquapanels=Aquapanels#
- Do not skim aqua panels - there is no need.
- Use a tanking kit (if on a budget you do not have to do the upper areas as less issues with water - start a bottom and work up). https://www.screwfix.com/p/mapei-shower-waterproofing-kit/78484
- Re-tile making sure tiler does not use 'pre-mix' (as it never drys) and does not dot-and-dab tiles on (as water can get behind when grout fails). Needs to be a flat constant layer of adhesive between the tiles and wall.

SFK